Fantasy Football Week 3 Running Back Rankings: How to handle J.K. Dobbins in his return?

It’s exciting to see JK Dobbins make his debut against the Patriots in Week 3 and he’s come a long way since sustaining a fairly gruesome injury that required reconstructive surgery last preseason. He worked hard to come back and the Ravens were patient with him and played the long game by keeping him off the field for the first few weeks even as he was pushing to be vacated.

But I’m not quite ready to throw him in my fantasy football lineup just yet. I’m not saying Dobbins is a must or anything, but I’m also not willing to treat him like the RB2 you might have drafted him as. Robbins is RB30 to me on his debut and that mostly reflects my confidence in him getting some goal-line work. I expect him to count fast and a 20-carry debut seems extremely unlikely.

More likely you’ll get about a dozen carries and hope he shows enough juice to break a long run or two and get into the end zone. It’s a tough matchup against a very good Patriots defense, but the Ravens should be able to move the ball well enough to give him some chances. If Dobbins gets into the end zone, he should be good enough to justify his place in your lineup – if not, he’ll likely be pretty underwhelming. That makes it an RB3 if I’ve ever heard of one.

Here are my RB rankings for week 3.

1. Christian McCaffrey against NO
2. Jonathan Taylor vs. KC
3. Saquon Barkley vs. DAL
4. Austin Ekeler vs. JAX
5. Leonard Fournette vs GB
6. Joe Mixon @NYJ
7. Dalvin Cook vs. DET
8. Aaron Jones @TB
9. Derrick Henry vs. LV
10. D’Andre Swift @MIN
11. Javonte Williams vs. SF
12. David Montgomery vs. HOU
13. James Conner vs. LAR
14. Alvin Kamara @CAR
15. Antonio Gibson vs. PHI
16. Josh Jacobs @TEN
17. Cordarrelle Patterson @SEA
18. AJ Dillon @TB
19. Ezekiel Elliott @NYG
20. Miles Sanders @WAS
21. Darrell Henderson @ARI
22. Jeff Wilson @DEN
23. James Robinson @LAC
24. Nyheim Hines vs. KC
25. Dameon Pierce @CHI
26. Damien Harris vs. BAL
27. Rhamondre Stevenson vs BAL
28. Michael Carter vs. CIN
29. JD McKissic vs. PHI
30. JK Dobbins @NE
31. Chase Edmonds vs. BUF
32. Breece Hall vs. CIN
33. Clyde Edwards-Helaire @IND
34. Cam Akers @ARI
35. Tony Pollard @NYG
36. Devin Singletary @MIA
37. Travis Etienne @LAC
38. Jamaal Williams @MIN
39. Rashaad Penny vs. ATL
40. Raheem Mostert vs. BUF
41. Melvin Gordon vs. SF
42. Tyler Allgeier @SEA
43. Sony Michel vs. JAX
44. Alexander Mattison vs. DET
45. Kenneth Walker vs. ATL
46. Zack Moss @MIA
47. Kenneth Gainwell @WAS
48. Mark Ingram @CAR
49. Eno Benjamin vs. LAR
50. Jordan Mason @DEN
51. Rex Burkhead @CHI
52. Kenyan Drake @NE
53. Khalil Herbert vs HOU
54. Ameer Abdullah @TEN
55. Rachaad White vs GB
56. Samaje Perine @NYJ
57. Amari Rodgers @TB